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Jetwing Jaffna

This 55-room hotel is Jaffna’s smartest option, offering first-class facilities, themed rooms, and a young and enthusiastic staff team. Its location is handy for pottering around town, scaling Jaffna Fort’s buttressed walls, and as a base to explore the peninsular.

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Rooms from

£52per night

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Location

8/10

The hotel is centrally located in Jaffna, next to a big well-equipped branch of Cargil’s supermarket and just a 15-minute walk from the train station. Within a 10-minute stroll are Jaffna Fort (a semi-restored colonial-era fortress) and the Jaffna Public Library.

The hotel has a small stable of quality mountain bikes that guests can use for free, and travelling by bicycle is a fun way to reach the Nallur Kandaswarmy Kovil, a superbly ornate and atmospheric Hindu place of worship ringed by a red-and-white candy-striped wall.

Style & character

7/10

As the tallest, whitest and most contemporary building in low rise Jaffna (seven floors plus a rooftop), the hotel is hardly inconspicuous. It is Jaffna’s smartest hotel, however, offering comfortable themed cookie cutter rooms and an attractive restaurant styled to reflect its northern character. Although this property is one of a number of Jetwing Hotels (a reliable Lankan hotel brand), its local-centric design and friendly staff infuse it with personality.

Service & facilities

7/10

Nearly two thirds of the staff team are graduates of the Jetwing Youth Development Programme (JYDP), which offers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds thorough (and free) training in the hospitality industry. As such, the team is young and enthusiastic, and willing to go the extra mile. Some of their tips included what to see and do in Jaffna, and where to eat – try the 50-year-old Malayan Café for wadde (deep fried lentil patties) and goats milk tea.

There aren’t many facilities here; just a restaurant, a conference room and a temporary-looking rooftop bar (with super views of Jaffna town and Kayts, mind you).

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Rooms

7/10

Rooms are compact yet comfortable, and differ only in bed configuration (doubles or twins), colour scheme (burgundy, lime and teal) and their views (town or peninsular). Hand-drawn murals of mythical Hindu characters and ornately carved timber headboards in all rooms nod to the region’s heritage.

Sliding doors open onto little balconies (too narrow to be furnished) for admiring the views. All rooms have satellite TV, air conditioning, tea/coffee making facilities, minibars, irons and safes. Rooms are not completely soundproofed; if you are easily roused, ask for a room away from the lift.

Food & drink

7/10

The restaurant specialises in Jaffna and South Indian Tamil cuisine, and standouts include the crab curry, the huge breakfast dosas, the mutton biriyani and Odyal Kool, a thick seafood soup – though plenty of western dishes are also on the menu. Depending on hotel occupancy, the restaurant serves a set menu or a buffet, with à la carte always available. The buffet offers good local and international dishes (no beef or pork), though the desserts were disappointing.